Landscape Ideas for Cozy Gathering Spaces in New Albany and Westerville OH Areas

Large parties may be “out” due to the pandemic, which makes small gatherings of close friends even more important to maintain a healthy social interaction. Here are some delightful landscape ideas for cozy gathering spaces in New Albany and Westerville, OH, areas. These ideas will make you want to plan your next outdoor get-together!

Related: 4 ACCENT AND BORDER OPTIONS FOR A PAVER PATIO IN WESTERVILLE AND LEWIS CENTER OH AREAS

If dividing up your outdoor living space into smaller, more intimate spaces feels like it would chop up your landscape and make it feel cramped, here are a few tips to maintain a feeling of spaciousness while at the same time creating intimacy.

Multi-level Living Spaces

Use changes in elevation to your advantage to create visual interest and cozy spaces. A sloped yard is a natural for creating individual spaces for cooking/dining, lounging, or enjoying conversation around a fire. But even if you don’t have a sloped yard, you can use changes in elevation in visually stunning ways. For example, you could choose to place your outdoor kitchen/dining area - where the action is - one or two steps higher than a seating area around a fire pit or beside an outdoor fireplace. 

The materials on these different levels could be different to give each area its own distinct personality. For example, the kitchen/dining area could be slightly elevated on a maintenance-free composite deck, and the fire/seating area could be nestled below on a flagstone patio surrounded by a low seat wall. 

This is an approach often used in modern landscape design to create visual interest and unobstructed views that still offer definition of space; and when you diversify the materials, each outdoor “room” will have a different feel, just like the rooms in your home.

Living Walls

Privacy is important for intimate gathering spaces. You can achieve privacy using living walls, such as climbing vines on trellises, or rows of densely planted cedars. If you’re planting cedars, stagger them in a zigzag pattern to give dimension to the ‘wall’ and to give the plants a bit more room to spread out.

Another option for living walls takes a softer approach: tall ornamental grasses in narrow raised masonry planters. This is also a great way to define spaces if your patio lacks coziness.

Large, Comfy Pieces

Conventional design ‘wisdom’ would tell you that the elements of your outdoor living space should be in proportion to the space: large furniture in large spaces, and small furniture in small spaces. This isn’t necessarily true, however. Many small details like patio furniture, planters, or decor contributes to a cluttered look that takes away from the main focus, which is getting together with people. Instead, consider the “less is more” approach. In a cozy gathering space, the emphasis should be on welcoming comfort. Oversized pieces are just fine if they’re placed strategically and if you leave space between them. 

Location

Placement of your cozy gathering spot is important. You want it to be the destination, not on the way to the destination. For this reason, place higher-traffic areas such as the outdoor kitchen with convenience in mind, and the more relaxed sitting areas outside of the traffic lanes. 

You can also separate outdoor living areas completely and join them with walkways. You could tuck an outdoor fireplace into a formerly unused corner of the yard… add a paver patio around it and a low seat wall… and you have a cozy fireside sitting area that you access via a lovely paver walkway.

Related: 4 WAYS TO WARM UP PATIOS IN NEW ALBANY AND WORTHINGTON OH AREAS